


Doppleganger

by Rainbowxcondom



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Bro/Dad - Freeform, Developing Relationship, M/M, Teaching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-09
Updated: 2012-04-09
Packaged: 2017-11-03 08:54:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/379565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbowxcondom/pseuds/Rainbowxcondom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You carefully put John on one of the swings and gave him a gentle push, your eyes continuously drifting back over to the rowdy pair. When the swing came back down you’d give it another little push, John’s giggling in the background of your thoughts, and as you stared at the older of the two blondes your mind started to drift. You mentally noted the way his shirt clung to his sweat drenched skin, the way his lean muscles moved under that shirt, you noticed his speed, his dexterity, his---when you finally realized that you had been staring and that you had neglected to keep pushing John your face flushed crimson. What the hell was wrong with you? What was it about this man that captivated you so much?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was the middle of summer and the last thing you wanted to do was go outside. No you would have much rather stayed right inside, right in that air conditioned kitchen and continued your baking, but John wanted to go outside and if there was one thing you loved more than baking it was your son. Well you loved pipes as well, but that’s another story. 

“Why do you want to go outside so bad, champ?” 

It was a simple question, but you had hoped that maybe it would make him think and maybe it would make him not want to go outside at all. You were dead wrong.

“I wanna go outside and do things with you!” 

You smiled as you patted the top of John’s head, he was only ten, of course he wanted to go outside and play or do something. You would have been concerned if he didn’t want to go outside and enjoy the summer. So you decided to brave the heat, you took your hat off the kitchen counter, placed it on your head, and scooped John up, putting him on your shoulders. The park was probably a safe bet, they could go play and get ice cream or something.

You hadn’t even taken one step outside before you were already regretting your decision to be a good dad, but you sure as hell were not going to disappoint John and so you trudged out into the sweltering summer heat. The park wasn’t too far down the road, but with the combination of John bouncing on your shoulders and the sun high up overhead, by the time you got to the park you had started to sweat. Badly. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to wear a nice long sleeve button up to the park in this kind of heat. Nothing you could do about it now though.

As you entered the park you noticed that a lot of people were being smart and staying inside today. Oh wait, there are some people here after all; two thin blonde boys chasing each other around with swords. Okay so one of them wasn’t a just a ‘boy’ the older one was definitely a ‘man’, but there was no way he was older than his early twenties…might as well be just a boy to you. As you walked John over to the swings you couldn’t help but watch the blondes, they were nuts! Running around, climbing up things, jumping off things, beating each other up, it was like the summer heat didn’t bother them at all. 

You carefully put John on one of the swings and gave him a gentle push, your eyes continuously drifting back over to the rowdy pair. When the swing came back down you’d give it another little push, John’s giggling in the background of your thoughts, and as you stared at the older of the two blondes your mind started to drift. You mentally noted the way his shirt clung to his sweat drenched skin, the way his lean muscles moved under that shirt, you noticed his speed, his dexterity, his---when you finally realized that you had been staring and that you had neglected to keep pushing John your face flushed crimson. What the hell was wrong with you? What was it about this man that captivated you so much?

Your thoughts started to make you feel uncomfortable, and for the rest of the time at the park you refused to let your eyes wander back to the interesting individual in the park and well you tried to avoid him like the plague. It must have just been the heat getting to your head, making you think weird thoughts. The next time the swing came back to you, you grabbed it, wrapped your arms around John and chuckled when he started giggling.

“What do you say about some ice cream, huh? You can get whatever size you want today.”

John’s blue eyes lit up and for a second you were struck with a sadness, John had your wife’s eyes and even though it had been three years already, you missed her dearly. You did your best to mask the sadness in your heart, you didn’t want John to get upset, and you picked him up out of the swing and put him back on your shoulders. The ice cream stand was exactly where it was everyday and when you got there you realized that the blondes from the park were standing at the window; the older one leaning on his elbows talking to the man that ran the shop and the little one standing on his tip toes trying to see over the counter. 

You get in line behind the two and you can’t help but overhear their conversation.

“Listen, you ain’t got no money then you ain’t getting’ no ice cream. Now beat it!”

“Can’t I just pay you tomorrow? Write you an IOU or something?”

The man behind the counter just shook his head and tried to shoo them away.

“Well shit lil man, looks like we can’t get ice cream after all.” 

He reached out a gloved hand and ran his fingers through the child’s blonde hair. If the kid was upset at all you wouldn’t have known. The kid kept a straight pokerface and really didn’t look bothered by it at all, but you cleared your throat loudly and got the blonde strangers’ attention.

“It’s on me today, boys.”

You smile warmly at the duo and can’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable not knowing if the older blonde is staring at you from behind those weird pointed sunglasses of his. You let them order first and place yours and John’s after, paying a whopping total of twenty dollars. You all walk to a secluded picnic table and sit down, enjoying the ice cream and cooling yourselves down. Rather than sit in silence you decide to strike up some kind of conversation.

“You boys from around here? Haven’t seen you at the park before.”

“We just moved in to the subdivision down the street and being cooped up inside was driving us crazy.” He put his hand on the little boy’s head and ruffled his hair. 

“Well welcome to the neighborhood! Mr….?”

“Strider. This one here is Dave and me, you can just call me Bro. It’s kind of what I’m used to.

The thought of calling someone whom you had never met before, ‘Bro’ struck you as odd and so you pushed that to the back of your mind, you’d just call him ‘Mr. Strider.’ John seemed curious in the two as well and you gave him a little nudge, letting him know it was all right to go sit next to the boy that seemed to be the same age. John happily agreed and sat next to Dave, it would be nice for John to have a friend he could play with. You smile as you watch John interact with Dave, they talked and John would laugh and it looked like this could be the start of a really good friendship for the two of them, especially since Dave was new to the town. 

When you turned your gaze away from the kids, it was brought to your immediate attention that ‘Bro’ was looking at you, or at least you think he was, those blasted sunglasses were already starting to be a nuisance. Your heartbeat picked up and your mind was running wild, what if he thought you were some creepy predator? Or maybe he was trying to figure out why someone so old had a kid? You swallow hard, trying to get the lump that had formed in your throat to go away.

“Is something wrong, Strider?”

“You got some ice cream on you.”

His voice was so husky, so baritone, and it held the slightest southern twang. He reached his gloved hand out and pressed his thumb firmly against your chest, wiping the tiny drop of ice cream from your shirt. He wiped it off on the wooden table and then his hand was back, only this time his thumb was against your jaw and when he wiped the droplet away you could have sworn that where his fingers had touched you it became a million times warmer. You quickly looked at your watch and stood up, pretending that there was some place that you had to be.

“It was very nice meeting you, Mr. Strider,” You knelt down and looked at Dave, “And it was nice to meet you as well, Dave.” 

You grabbed John’s hand and started walking away from the table, you needed to get back home, those two were nothing but trouble and you could feel it deep in your bones. A little voice shouted after you, 

“What’s your name, kid?”

John turned around as he continued to walk and shouted back, “John Egbert! Let’s play again sometime, Dave!” 

It was the happiest you had seen John in awhile and just that made you happy, but as you walked away you knew that ‘Bro’ was watching you walk away, you could feel his eyes on you and it made all sorts of ugly feelings start to bubble to the surface. Man, this heat was really playing with your head today.


	2. Chapter 2

Your alarm didn’t even have time to go off before you jolted awake. Another nightmare. Another night of interrupted sleep. It wasn’t even that your dreams were particularly scary, just depressing, just your wife and each and every time you dream you see her dying. You sit up and bring your knees to your chest, tears building at the corners of your eyes. Time heals all wounds, right? You can’t bring yourself to go back to bed and so you shut off your alarm and trudge downstairs to start making breakfast. You open the kitchen window to get some fresh air, the breeze feeling wonderful against your face. All the necessary ingredients and tools are pulled from their spots and set out on the counter as you look everything over. 

Cooking was the one thing that brought you peace, your Nan always made a point that men should be able to cook too and so she taught you. After a long stressful day you’d come home and make an extravagant dinner and it would relax you to be alone in the kitchen, focusing on making sure everything turned out perfect, the different smells that filled the kitchen, everything about it was peaceful. You start your mission: apple cinnamon waffles, hash browns, and eggs. It’s only a matter of minutes before you forget all about the nightmare and all the troubles you had and just get lost in your cooking. 

By the time you’re finished and starting to put everything on plates for you and John, the sleepy head walks into the kitchen, rubbing at his eyes and yawning. 

“Morning, Dad…” 

“Morning, John. You ready for some breakfast?”

He sits down at the kitchen table and blinks sleepily at you as you carry the plates of food over to the table. Breakfast is eaten in silence, like most mornings, and when John’s done he says a simple ‘thanks’ and puts his plate in the sink. You finish moments later and put your plate in the sink as well. Today seemed like it was about to be a pretty good day. 

The sun was rising higher into the sky and the heat was slowly starting to increase, you leaned over the sink to shut the window when you noticed just how dirty your car was. Were you really driving around with all that dirt and grime caked on to your car? You had the day off work anyway so you thought that it would probably be a good idea to clean your car before you have to drive a thing of dirt to work tomorrow. You make your way upstairs and clean up a little bit, you look yourself over as you wash your face, gray patches at your temples and tiny streaks running through your hair, you definitely were not the man you once were. The years had been kind to you, though, and you could proudly say that the only wrinkles on your face were the crow’s feet when you laughed. You run your hand over the stubble on your face, maybe you’ll keep it for a little bit this time. Or maybe you’ll shave it off after your done with the car, you’ll debate the pros and cons of facial hair later. On your way back downstairs you grab your pipe from the bedside dresser and put it between your lips, the taste of tobacco still present from the last time you smoked. 

There was only one other thing you needed from inside and that was a lighter, but you searched high and low and you finally gave up after rifling through all the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. This was a bit of a sticky situation, but you decided to just keep the pipe with you, maybe you had a spare lighter or some matches out in the car. As you step outside you roll your sleeves up, you have to let your skin breath a little bit or you’ll be swimming in sweat again. The usual car cleaning tools are exactly where you left them, just to the side of the house by the hose and you go and grab it, filling the bucket with some warm water and suds. 

A clean car is a happy car, that’s always been your motto and you really can’t understand why you’ve let it get so dirty in the first place. Everything will be squeaky clean soon so you guess it doesn’t really matter. You squeeze the sponge out over your car, watching the water run down the sides, leaving tiny clean streaks. You were so preoccupied with your car that you didn’t even notice the Strider brothers until Bro’s arm was around your neck.

“’Sup Egbert, you want some help?”

He didn’t give you time to reply and he grabbed the sponge from your hand and started wiping the grime off your car. You watch as Dave runs past you, looking up at the house, and you don’t have time to stop him before he’s throwing rocks at all the second story windows.

“John! Come down!” Dave let another rock fly at the window he presumed to be John’s window.

“You break it, you buy it little man!” 

You just stand there, mouth hanging wide open, how could Bro just be okay with Dave throwing rocks at a strangers house? They were definitely an odd bunch, but you could tell that from the moment you saw them beating each other up in the park with wooden swords. You don’t know what to say, you just hope that your windows aren’t cracked. Just let it go. Kids will be kids, right? You go an grab another sponge from the ‘car cleaning bucket’ that you keep and as you return to Bro and your car you see John sprint out of the house and jump on Dave like they were best friends that hadn’t seen each other in three years. It’s nice to see John so happy, so you guess you’ll let the rock throwing slide. 

You and Bro take different sides of the car, there’s no talking between the two of you, you’re both so focused on getting your car clean. It’s Bro that finally breaks the silence, 

“You going to light that pipe? Or is it just for decoration?”

His voice rings in your ears, it’s so deep and he almost sounded like he was smiling, but when you look around the car you see that pokerface. The same one you saw the day before and the same one that Dave wore too. It wasn’t until Bro pointed it out that you realized your pipe was still dangling from your lips, you unlocked the car and searched around; there were no matches and not a single lighter to be found, just your luck.

“Here.” 

Bro dug around in his pocket and pulled out a lighter, flicking the top open and producing a flame. You walked over to him and leaned in, taking a drag from the pipe and letting the smoke fill your lungs. After a couple seconds you exhaled the smoke and breathed a sigh of relief. You nodded at Bro, a sign of thanks, and turned to head back over to your side of the car. What you didn’t know, however, was that as you were puffing on your pipe, someone decided to stick a bucket right behind your feet. When you went to turn around, you stepped in the bucket, lost your balance, and fell face first into Bro’s chest, your arms wrapping around his slender form and your bodies pressing together.

You hesitated in his arms, something inside of you not wanting to pull away, but you did. You turned and angrily looked over to the kids, the smiles immediately falling from their faces and both of them pointing the blame to the other. You give your son and his friend your best, “I’m very upset with you.” look and you hope it sinks in. After staring the kids down you turn your attention back to the man who’s arms you were just in.

“I’m really sorry about that, Strider.”

“Nothing to apologize for, I’m just glad you didn’t fall and crack your head open.”

You chuckle, but it’s a nervous sounding chuckle at best and you really hope no one catches that. You carefully make your way back to the other side of the car, the windshield reflecting an image of you and it’s mortifying how red your cheeks are. What was wrong with you recently? Something about Bro Strider…you just couldn’t put your finger on what kind of feeling was running through your head, but it made you feel uneasy. 

After the car was spotless and the kids had tired themselves out, you invite everyone inside for some dinner. John and Dave head straight for the living room and pull out some video game that you never really pay attention to and Bro sits in the kitchen, watching you cook and asking every now and again if there’s anything he could do to help out. There was no way that you were going to invite guests into your house and then make them cook their own dinner.

Without realizing it, you started treating Bro like a child, scolding him when he tried to help you or telling him ‘No’ sternly when he tried to grab something for you. You began to wonder just how old Bro actually was and if Dave was his younger brother or maybe his son. Was there a lucky lady in Bro’s life, the thought left a sour taste in your mouth. You were pulled from your thoughts when the oven timer went off, and you turned off the flame on the stove.

“Alright brats, dinner’s ready, get your asses in here.”

“Strider!” 

“Oh, excuse me. Get your rumps in here. Better, Egbert?”

The last thing you wanted was John to pick up that kind of language at his age, how Bro Strider raised his kid was none of his business but you wouldn’t have that kind of language around your son. The boys came bounding in to the kitchen and sat down next to each other at the dinner table. Bro helped you portion out the food on to four different plates and set two down in front of the children. You followed behind, setting a plate down in front of Bro before sitting down next to him. 

“Alright boys, my Nan taught me this recipe: Chicken Scallopine. Eat up.”

Dinner went by without much conversation, Bro would make a comment about something, Dave and John would laugh, and you couldn’t help but look on; the last time dinner had felt like this was a long time ago and you certainly welcomed the happiness that filled the room. 

Once dinner was done and over with, Bro helped you clean up the plates and thanked you for feeding them before he nudged Dave towards the door. You and John walked your guests to the door,

“Feel free to come over anytime you want, I think John’s happy to have a new friend.”

“You’re welcome to come over to our place too, but I can’t promise you a fancy dinner. Hope you’re okay with some Hamburger Helper.”

You laugh as you clap Bro on the back and bid him and Dave a good night. Once Bro and Dave were on their way home, you close the door and usher John up the stairs to bed. You tell him good night and shut out the lights, then you retire to your room, shutting the door behind you. Like every night you strip off your clothes and wash yourself off with a cool rag before you climb in to bed. Only this night was different. Tonight the only thing playing over and over in your mind was a certain blonde. As you drifted off to sleep your mind recalled the way his biceps peeked out from under his t-shirt and the way his arms wrapped around you and held you in place.

**Author's Note:**

> I know that Dave and John live in different places, but for the sake of this story Bro and Dave are the new kids on the block and sburb doesn't exist.


End file.
